Peace walk nears its destination
By the News Desk
Participants of the 1,000-kilometre peace walkathon led by Gothom Arya, director of the Centre for the Study and Peaceful Development of Mahidol University have already arrived in Songkhla and are on their way to their final destination in Pattani, one of the three strife-torn southernmost provinces.
The participants of the peace walk, officially known as “Dhamma Walk towards Peaceful Pattani”, which started on July 11 at the campus in Nakhon Pathom, are hopeful that they will be able to reach the destination within next Wednesday September 1.
One of the travellers told the Isra news desk that the walkathon was not only intended to promote peace in the three sounthernmost provinces but was also intended to promote peace of mind.
“Most people walk with their feet. But for this walk which covers a long distance and is intended to promote peace, we have to walk with our hearts – walk with mindfulness and with concentration then all the pains and tiredness will not bother our minds,” he said.
He recalled that the peace walk participants were warmly received by people along the route, some of whom occasionally joined the walk for a short distance. However, he noted that he scarcely heard a response to the peace activity from the locals in the far South.
One peace walkers, Pornpen Kongkachornkiat from the Cross Cultural Foundation, said she first joined the walkathon on July 26 in Prachuab Khiri Khan. Describing herself as a person who usually leaves home in her car and has never walked more than 20 steps to arrive at her office, she admitted that she was surprised with herself that she could walk a distance of 28 kilometres from Prachuab Khiri Khan township to Thap Sakae district in one day.
Baffled by the powers of her two feet and her heart, Ms Pornpen said she was also awed by the powers of the feet and hearts of her teammates which made her believe that a miracle might be possible to bring about peace to the far South as wished by all the peace walkers.
After the first leg of the walkathon, she joined the second leg for a distance of about 200 kilometres from Surat Thani to Nakhon Si Thammart from August 11 to August 19.
On the first day of the peace walk, she recalled that she was told to walk in a meditative fashion known as dharma walk which would enable her to cover long distance without much difficulty. Despite the advice, she admitted that she did not feel peace of mind that day because her mind was obsessed with the case of a s16-year old boy who had been held in custody for more than a week allegedly in connection with violence in the deep South.
Later on, she said she heard that the boy had been freed.
Ms Pornpen admitted that she rarely heard responses from the locals in the three southernmost provinces although she and her companions were warmly received by people along the traveling route.
On the third day of her second-leg peace walk, she said she received a call from Narathiwat informing her about one insurgency suspect wanted by the police was shot dead. Her foundation had tried to arrange for the suspect to surrender.
But as the peace walkers are nearing Pattani, Ms Pornpen said she began to hear welcoming voices from the people in Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat, encouraging them to carry on with the walk with others vowing to join the activity.
Regarding the walkathon itself, Ms Pornpen quoted Gothom as saying that it was just a process to achieve peace whereas Mr Pramuan Pengchan, a lecturer at Chiangmai University who used to walk from Chiang Mai to his hometown at Koh Samui in Surat Thani and wrote a book, titled “Walk towards Freedom” called the peace walkathon as just a ploy to achieve peace.
But whether this “ploy” or “process” will be successful or not, she said she was quite encouraged that the peace walkers would be received by people not only from Pattani but also from neighbouring Narathiwat.
“We hope our voices will eventually drown out the gunshots and explosions,” she said.
The followings are some of the responses from people in the far South about the peace walk.
Mr Yagob Raimanee, an imam of the central masjid of Pattani, hailed the peace walk as an activity of good intention and with clear objective by a group of people who want to see peace restored in the region.
Mr Kathawuth sae Kwoe, a resident of Yala, also welcomed the peace initiative and praised the peace walkers for their selfless dedication to peace.